eConowind-unit Wins Maritime Innovation Award
Yes, we did it: we won the Maritime Innovation Award 2019! What an exciting evening with a fantastic outcome for our innovative eConowind-unit. The host Patrick Lodiers kept the suspense to the last minute. After a quick Q&A with the nominees for the category Maritime Innovation Award the winner was announced. Guus van der Bles, Director Development at Conoship International, and Frank Nieuwenhuis, Managing Director of Econowind BV, accepted the award.
Not only did they accept this award, last month the eConowind-unit won the Neptune Awards at the Global Sustainable Shipping and Ports Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are on a winning streak!
Fair winds for Econowind
Besides winning awards, the system is becoming a commercial success as well. Van Dam Shipping signed a contract last September for the installation of an eConowind-unit on their 3,600 DWT general cargo vessel MV Ankie. For Econowind BV it was the first commercial order of their Ventifoil system which successfully completed sea test trials earlier this year. The wind-assisted propulsion system was developed over the past three years supported by an EU backed grant. This first installation marks a significant milestone for the company of bringing their technology to a shipping market eager to deploy credible decarbonization solutions. Van Dam Shipping will take delivery of the Ventifoil system in Q4 2019.
“We expect the reduction in fuel costs over a period of approximately three years will equal the costs of the system and thus fulfill our dream of using the wind again in modern shipping, which has been 40 years in the making”, stated a delighted Jan van Dam, owner of van Dam Shipping.
Van Dam Shipping will participate in further testing the concept in the new EU INTERREG funded Wind-Assist Ship Propulsion (WASP) research program, which will study practical use of wind-assisted systems in day-to-day operation as well as actual savings over an extended period of time.
